An Old Friend
by RitesOfFiction47
Summary: There's peace in Beach City. The everyday norm carries on for all. Well, obviously not for Steven. As he goes on trying to save the world as usual he meets an UNusual stranger just outside his window. A monster emerges on the shore and Steven prepares to defend himself, but the stranger seems to also be a match for the monster. Who's the stranger? What does it mean for Steven?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

The Barbarian Girl

Here we see Beach City. A peaceful little place, but lively in it's own manner. The gems have returned but only for a short while, as they must continue missions. They exchanged their hellos with each other, did their training and headed out the next day, leaving Steven alone at home again. Passing his time as he usually would, playing video games, he did notice a long almost tail like bound of hair flying just outside window. The hair, having piqued his curiosity, led him outside, where he saw a girl with a long ponytail not far from his age but certainly with longer hair than his father, on his rooftop seemingly meditating.

She had long, straight, black hair so dark it would be as if you were staring into space at any time of the day, with only a bright green highlighting coloring her bangs (not that you could see her eyes in the first place). As for her outfit she donned a completely black sleeveless top seemingly hand-made with a hood and faded black denim pants with plenty of tears and holes—mostly made by her of course—but just enough to look publicly decent, as well as dark leather fingerless gloves.

"Hi! My name's Steven!" the boy had yelled to the mysterious young girl. She didn't say anything. She just she sat there, not moving a muscle. Concentrated, but at what?

"What's your na—," he was however interrupted by a mighty roar coming from the ocean and rumbling the ground.

A gem, a corrupted gem, was upon them as it made its decent from the lighthouse just above them, the very lighthouse made to guide those lost at sea, now will soon guide those who wish to know one another. As he was getting ready to attack, before Steven could even have a moments thought the girl, with a hatchet in hand, jumped off of his rooftop, threw the weapon at the monster's head, harming it and stomped the hatchet on landing finishing it off.

"Wow, that was incredible!'" Steven said amazed. "How did you do that? I-It was like you were some kind of ninja!"

"It was like you were superhuman, it was like… it was like," but the smiles from the boy slowly dissipated as he asked, "Are… a-are you a crystal gem?"

"What? No, no," the girl spoke reassuringly, however not fully convincing Steven.

"But then," Steven said preparing his shield but not making it visible, "where did the hatchet come from? And h-how did you jump all the way over here?"

"Relax kid I'm human," then the girl proceeded to explain, "It's just that I come here every once in a while to train, usually in hopes of finding and fighting a monster as you can see. I mean—we humans have to defend ourselves too. It's our home also, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I guess it is," Steven then said relieved.

"Listen um, Steven is it? I have a small confession to make" and so the girl confessed, "I've actually been watching some of your battles with other monsters where you usually take the defensive with your… shield right? And while I can respect your pacifism, I feel you shouldn't just leave the offensive to your friends. And if you'll let me, I'd like to teach you how to fight."

"Well sure I'd accept, but I also fight when I fuse with my friend Connie," Steven also explained.

"Who? Oh right, the young swordfighter." She thought to herself then spoke, "Yes, I've also seen those fights too, but it does seem likes most of the fighting is coming from her. She's an admirable little swordswoman, but if you want to also protect her, you must also protect yourself. Will you follow me?"

"Yes. Yes, I'll do it!" Steven said excitedly.

" For Earth?" the girl asked giving her hand.

"For Earth," Steven replied shaking it.

"Oh boy, I got to tell the gems!" Steven said as he started running back to the house.

"Wait, who?" asked the girl.

"The crystal gems! You know, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, c'mon!"

"Oh, your friends. Um… listen Steven if it's all the same to you I'd like to keep our lessons private," she said hesitatingly.

"How come?" asked the enthusiastic boy.

"Well um, c-considering that their used to you playing the defensive I'm not sure they'd be too big on you fighting, and honestly, if they would be that's great, but we should keep it on the down-low. T-to surprise them!" explained the girl.

"Oh. Well, okay." Steven said trusting her.

"Your training starts tomorrow evening," the girl finally said, "Oh, and Steven? My name's Jaiden."

"That's a nice name," Steven complimented, "See you tomorrow!"

"What a nice kid," Jaiden thought to herself, "but I just wonder what could happen if he learns the truth. I just need to keep myself hidden from these 'crystal gems'. Just for now."

That night, all but the uneasy Jaiden slept well, then the morning came. The sun had risen like a phoenix rising from the cloudy sky of fire and making its daylong trip through the great blue ocean above us, only to sink down into the horizon evermore where the dove makes its flight across the space between our worlds until the next day, where deep, lies the very torches we call stars waiting to be burnt out once and for all. Yes the morning had come and in the next day of meeting the stranger known as Jaiden, Steven begins his training. No longer as a defender, but now a fighter.

"Okay Steven," said his new fighting teacher, "it's here that we begin your training. Are you ready to begin?"

"Absolutely!" said the young man excited as ever, "I'm ready to defend my friends. But I have one question."

"What is it Steven?"

"Well you mentioned that you wanted to keep this as a surprise for the Gems, but shouldn't have we found a proper training ground rather than… you know, my front yard?"

"Steven, you forget. I'm not a gem. I mean I have to work with what I got, know what I mean?"

"Oh yeah, my bad," the young boy said now prepared.

"No biggie. Now to begin we'll start with these rocks," she said not showing concern.

Steven usually paid no mind to the boulders on the beach, but for this moment the boulders seem huge to him. All that time of not noticing made him feel smaller in that moment. But Jaiden began to speak again snapping Steven back to reality.

"Listen closely Steven," she began to instruct, "one good ability of fighting is learning how to shift your power, like how you are able to float while jumping."

This surprised Steven, as he was not aware that others had seen his power just a few weeks back.

"How do you—?"

"You're one of the strangest kids in Beach City pal," Jaiden explained, "when that whole thing happened some weird guy with the blonde dreads and a flower shirt at first thought you we're a UFO, but some pretty girl with a bandana and an apron recognized you almost instantly. I guess you're pretty popular 'round here. Anyway let's get back to training."

"Right!" Steven said now re-prepared.

"So as I was saying about shifting power, you must learn to stretch your endurance and put more power than one usually would when throwing a punch. Observe," And so she demonstrated.

"You breathe in," inhaling as she spoke, "you focus on your target, and you strike!" breaking a boulder almost twice the size of Jasper.

Steven stood there in awe, amazed but at the same time uncertain as he was not sure he could top an attack like that.

"Now obviously you may not be able to attack like that now," said Jaiden, "so we'll start smaller,"

She gave Steven a boulder about the size of himself for him to practice. Steven breathed in focused on his target, winded back for a punch, threw his fist and… stopped, as he was only centimeters away.

"I'm not sure if I'm able to do this," Steven said unsettled, " I want to defend my friends but I'm not sure if this is the way."

"Steven!" said Jaiden attempting to reassure him, "It's only a rock! You're not fighting anyone!" But it was to no avail, and Steven put his arms down in failure.

"Steven," said Jaiden, beginning a story, "let me tell you a story. I've gotten into fights often where I'm from. Living like that sucked for me. But I got into a fight once with this big girl and she was tough. I was at the end of my rope, on my back, and ready to give up. Then she gave her hand out to pull me up. She smiled, knowing the fight was over. And terrified, but more or less simply confused, I just started walking away, perplexed and… euphoric. The moment she smiled it felt like a revelation. She stood her ground, keeping her friends behind her. My own friends rejected me after I had lost and I left them. But that day I learned something. Sometimes a misperception can completely take over your thoughts on others. I'm telling you this because your hesitance to fight these monsters is justified but you must realize you aren't fighting the ones inside you are fighting the ones they have become on the outside. Maybe you can help them, like after that fight, that woman wanted to help me. Now. Strike again!"

And with all his might and stars in his eyes, Steven swung his fist towards the rock, breaking it in two.

"This kid is gonna go far," Jaiden proudly said to herself.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Other Friends

Solidly, Jaiden and Steven were able to carry out their training for a good few weeks. Jaiden kept herself secret while the other crystal gems were around and Steven kept his end of the bargain by not showing off and triggering questions. It was as if Jaiden was able to continuously disappear at the right place and right time prior to the gems arrival at the beach. However, the gems had noticed Steven had been able to carry out missions better than usual and was no longer dependant on Connie to help him in battles with gem monsters. It had made them slightly suspicious though most of the paranoia came from Pearl. Amethyst on the other hand was impressed and rather proud that Steven was able to hold out on his own, as was Garnet though it would be a lie to say she didn't find Steven's sudden appearance of strength rather spontaneous.

The day had finally come. Steven had mustered up the strength to take on his final test and challenge. Steven would be able to crush a boulder. There weren't all that many stones on the beach for Steven to train with, but Jaiden had found the perfect one. It wasn't as big as the bolder she had crushed weeks prior, but it was enough that she knew Steven could handle.

"Are you ready Steven?" spoke his teacher.

"As ready as I'll ever be," responded Steven confident and smiling.

Steven breathed in focused on his target, winded back for a punch, threw his fist and stopped at the sound of a roar coming seemingly from the temple, as he was only centimeters away. A corrupted gem almost twice the size of Jasper had appeared and it jumped down from the lighthouse and landed on the beach, crushing the boulder on impact.

Steven was prepared to fight until he heard, "Steven stay here, I got this!" Jaiden was going to take on the monster herself.

"Wait Jaiden let me help you!" the young man said wanting to help his teacher.

"No Steven, stay back!" she said while fighting the creature, "This is too much for you to handle, I don't want you to get hurt!"

However, considering it wasn't a rock, the monster was too much even for Jaiden to handle. It grabbed Jaiden and slammed her down onto the rough sand. She couldn't break free and the monster opened its mouth. A great white shark would swim away in terror never to be seen again upon seeing the teeth of this creature. Plenty about this creature is dangerous and horrifying already, with its dark red skinned, hairless, 4-armed and 4-handed body, the rows of spikes on it's head back trailing all the way towards it's tail, which was almost the size of the staircase leading to Steven's house, and its 2 beady eyes which not quite on the side of it's pogona-shaped head therefore not giving him a blind spot other than behind him. But the worst part about this creature was his almost dragon-like teeth, sharper and longer than a hundred of Rose's swords. But before the monster had a chance to get it's teeth near Jaiden's head Steven knocked the monster back with one punch, not yet poofing it.

"I don't want you to get hurt either," said Steven picking up his teacher, "If you're protecting me then who's protecting you? If you're going to fight we're going to fight together."

Jaiden then realized the strength in her student. And together they fought the monster. Jaiden and Steven charged towards the monster, Steven being slightly behind her. The monster was charging his fist towards Jaiden but missed, slamming it into the sand. Jaiden, using its trapped arm as a ramp, ran up the monster's arm and kicked the monster's head upward, knocking it back and freeing its hand, where Steven used the opportunity to jump up and punch the monster square in its torso as hard as he could, finally poofing it, bubbling the gem, sending it to the temple and collapsing of exhaustion on the sand with Jaiden by his side.

"I'm proud of you Steven," said his teacher, "You were able to take on a creature that somehow even I couldn't. And I'm proud of you for it. You're gonna go far with that strength and skill."

"We," Steven said, "We took on the creature. If anything, let's be proud of the teamwork."

"Y'know," Jaiden spoke, "maybe I will meet the team."

"Really?" Steven asked excitedly.

"Yeah. I think it's time."

Unfortunately Jaiden got her wish all to quickly. It's normal that battles in Beach City don't exactly go quietly. In this case the gem trio had heard the end of the battle and rushed over to the beach (though another considerable factor would be Garnet's future vision). They saw Jaiden upon arriving.

"Steven!" Pearl screamed in maternal fear, "We heard a fight happening all the way over here and Garnet's future vision saw a battle on the beach and—W-who is this?"

Amethysts eye's locked on to Jaiden and started dashing over charging a punch, as did Jaiden herself. When the two collided a huge wave of sand and dust was generated, and when the dust cleared, they could see Amethyst hugging and swinging around Jaiden in joy and excitement.

"Aaaaaah! Oh my gosh, Jaiden Emerson, it's really you!" screamed Amethyst in jubilation.

"Wait, Amethyst you know her?" asked the very confused Steven.

"Yeah man, I've known this girl for years. We met at a concert a few years back and just became friends from there."

"How many humans are you exactly 'friends' with Amethyst?" Pearl asked sarcastically yet slightly concerned.

"Hey I was more social than you guys were back then." Amethyst said sassingly.

"Anyways I'm amazed that you're here! What've you been doing recently?"

"Oh you know," Jaiden said nervously, "exploring 'round towns and cities, excavating… teaching Steven how to fight."

Though she tried to say it quietly, all of the gems heard her.

'That's amazing!" Amethyst said before getting cut-off by Pearl, "You've been training Ste—"

"You were teaching Steven how to fight?!" Pearl said scared.

"I don't believe this! Steven, are you hurt? How do you know this person? How do _you_ know this person Amethyst? How could you even consider doing something like this by yourself? How-"

"Pearl, calm down," Garnet said wisely as usual, "You should honestly be proud of Steven for taking the only type of training we wouldn't do one-on-one."

"Jaiden is it? We have to consider the fact that you've been training Steven to defend himself if in a dangerous scenario and we'd like to thank you."

"You should join our team!" Amethyst suggested.

"Oh, I don't know. I don't want to be imposing," Jaiden said overwhelmed by this offer.

"Nothing of the sort" Steven said encouragingly, "We'd love to have you."

"I-I mean… o-okay, if you really insist."

"Aaaaah! This is going to be great." Amethyst said excitingly, "We just need to figure out your room and tomorrow you can meet the rest of the team."

"Th-the rest of the team?"

"Yeah! We've recruited some more people hanging out in the barn. You can meet them tomorrow!"

"O-okay. That sounds great!" Jaiden said all the while not trying to show her inner terror. "I mean I don't really need a room I can just sleep in the lighthouse."

"Alright suit yourself," said Amethyst leading her inside the house, "We're glad to have you here. Also we have a lot of catching up to do."

"Garnet could I talk to you for a second?" Pearl said secretively, "Listen I know we should show our appreciation for training Steven, but are you sure this is a good idea? Neither of us have really met or really know that person."

"Pearl, I admit it's not exactly the least we could do, but this person has taught Steven how to take care of himself in battle. It's not the exactly most we could do either. Now, let's head inside."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

New Friends

In most cities, you would expect there to be a late-night crowd, going out for a post-midnight bite to eat, going to a dance club, or the worst-case scenario, work. Beach City doesn't exactly have that crowd. It has somewhat of a nighttime crowd, and for most, it usually consist of a dinner or a trip to the fairgrounds, or occasionally a quick sail out to sea to clear the mind. Overall though, Beach City is the type of city that shuts off around 11pm—at the latest—and starts back up early in the morning.

The reason to explain this is to emphasize how strange it is to see Jaiden up and about and running towards the trashed barn, surprised to see a structure like this could even still stand—though unaware that the residents caused the mess in the first place. She entered through the barn window, which inexplicably had a truck driven through it, making her have to squirm her way to the windshield, to see an ominous triangle at the side of a pile of hay, watching a TubeTube video through her tablet of some conspiracy theorist that repeatedly claims that the gems are evil and a source of the weirdness happening around town, though at the end he goes to beg for the gems to stay considering that this is the only way he'll have something to report. The upload date showed that the video was at least a year-and-a-half old.

"Ok, so that's Peridot," Jaiden thought to herself, "She's definitely a lot shorter than I expected. Now, I wonder where the other one is. Oh, jeez what am I doing here? I had to see who these people were but I can't talk to them! They'd recognize me in an instant!"

"Okay, I have a plan," Jaiden continued thinking to herself, "When Steven and I are walking here and the barn's in plain sight, I'll ask Steven to race me there. I'm way faster than Steven so I can be there in at most 7 seconds where it'll take Steven about 20 to finally get here. Once I'm here I'll go in, introduce myself, explain everything and hopefully, come back out with as few scratches as possible, climb down the barn and tell Steven I just got there. It has to work."

But suddenly, as Jaiden was about to climb out, she slipped on the hood of the truck and fell to the barn floor, alarming Peridot and preventing any of us from seeing how her plan would turn out.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Peridot said as she noticed the intruder. But when she saw the intruder clearly, "Oh my stars! It's an—mmmmmmph! Mmmmmph!"

"Shhh! Shhh!" Jaiden tried to shush, failing all the while, "It's okay! I'm not here to hurt anybody, I swear! I'm not against you! Please relax! I'm Steven's friend! It's okay."

And finally she was quieting Peridot down, albeit she was getting ready to scream, "HELP!" the first chance she got.

"I am not an enemy of anyone," Jaiden tried to say reassuringly, "Listen, okay? I've been a friend of Steven for the past few weeks and I've been training him to fight. I know that may not be the most convincing argument, but I beg you to believe that I'm on your side. I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt anybody. I want to help this planet as much as any of you guys. Now, on the count of 3 I'm going to take my hand off of your mouth, and on 3 I hope you will have processed and understood everything that I've said so far. One, two, th-."

But Jaiden was cut-off as behind her, Lapis used her water powers to grab Jaiden by the throat and lift her almost to the ceiling, presumably wanting to launch her through the roof, as well as maybe the atmosphere.

"Why should we believe you?" Lapis said menacingly.

"You don't have to believe me," said Jaiden while losing air, "In fact, considering most things, you probably shouldn't. But at least believe Steven when he and everybody else including myself start heading here to introduce me tomorrow morning. I-I'm your friend. I'm… sorry."

"Lapis… let her go," said Peridot

"What?!" Lapis said questioningly.

"Let her go now!" Peridot yelled. And so Lapis dropped her.

"Okay. You've convinced me. But know this because I'm speaking for the entire team. If Steven is in any danger because of the likes of you, we won't hesitate to break you."

"I swear," said Jaiden.

"We don't trust you."

"Me especially," Lapis chimed in.

"But if Steven can honestly say you are who you claim you are, we're willing to believe you," Peridot finished.

"Thank you," Jaiden said catching her breath, "Thank you."

"Now," Lapis started as she was forming a water spear and Peridot was levitating an actual spear.

"Get the heck out of our barn," they both said simultaneously making almost twice as threatening.

So Jaiden left and came back the following morning with Steven and the other gems to be introduced as Steven's trainer. Peridot and Lapis shook hands with Jaiden but looked at her with hardened glares and reluctant smiles. The three of them were so uneasy by this whole meeting that you could almost see the dark lines by their heads. But as Steven demonstrated what he had learned and told the story of the corrupted gem fight, they softened, seeing Jaiden blush as Steven was bragging about her, the fun of her training, and meeting the other gems. Then they asked if Lapis and Peridot would approve of her joining the team. They clearly showed slight resistance to the idea but finally agreed to it.

"Well we're gonna get something to eat," Steven said relieved by their decision, "wanna come with?"

"No thanks Steven" Lapis said peacefully, "We still need to watch the last few episodes of season 4 of Wayward Pines. Maybe we'll catch up later."

"Ok, we'll see you later then," Steven said as he and the group started walking.

However, the pair's quick question of her thoughts pulled Garnet back.

"Garnet, be honest with us," Peridot began to ask, "Do you actually trust this person at all?"

"Of course not," Garnet replied.

"Oh, well that's reassuring," Lapis said sarcastically.

"But," Garnet began to explain, "she's somebody that Amethyst knows and Steven trusts. And, from what I've heard and seen, she's somebody who cares about Steven. So a friendship with her is something that I'm willing to give a shot. But I can promise you that I'm not letting my guard down on her."

"Same here," Lapis stated, "Also Garnet, there's something I should tell you."

"I already know," Garnet said as she walked away.

It's nighttime now. Everybody, after a long exciting day has finally retreated to their quarters. Time flies fast in Beach City. The citizens of the town savor their moments in the outside world as much as they can, because on occasion it's almost like a whole day can pass and it can only feel like 10 minutes. As Garnet entered her room she glanced at a newly bubbled gem, the one from the corrupted gem from the day before, and it was trapped in a green bubble. She realized something was most definitely wrong. She was hit with a vision. She saw "Jaiden" in the middle of the path of the Prime Kindergarten smiling, crying, and with a hatchet in her hand. Not wanting to alarm the whole temple due to just one vision, she quietly left the house and then sprinted all the way to the lighthouse. Upon arriving at the top floor, she saw many gems. Poofed gems. And hiding behind the door, she heard voices, 3 voices, albeit they did not have a distinct enough sound to seem like 3 different people.

"Finally we know the whereabouts of the rest of the rebellion. As well as two other traitors to the diamonds this is our last chance of redemption."

"Will you just stop it with this thought of 'redemption'? After what we did we can't go back."

"'What we did'? What did we ever do? We escaped with our lives from the enemy after we fought valiantly and crushed most of the rebellion. We could have ended the war instead of run away like a coward."

"Both of you just shut up! We've made our decision by living on this gem-forsaken planet as long as we have. We've surrendered our allegiance to those tyrants we call diamonds long, **long** ago."

Then Garnet looked into the room further and saw Jaiden alone, sitting in a chair by a table with nobody else and with two gems on the back of her hands.

"Being a 'coward' lowers the chance of us being accepted by the diamonds even further! We left the battle and they would cast us out upon returning. And why _would_ we return? Are you so unaffected by the leader letting us live?"

"When she let us _live_ , she cursed us to almost 5000 years of loneliness, the starvation of our sanity, and surviving on our own. We bring back the 6 gemstones of these traitors; we can have our honor back. We can have our place in Homeworld restored. We can be normal again."

"'Honor'? Do you call the shattering of those willing to guard a planet of beauty 'honor'? Do you call going back to being just another unstable soldier in the crowd 'a place in Homeworld'? Do you call a broken mind like ours normal?"

"It's better than rotting away, conscious of failing our world like the pathetic Emerald you are. To love these stupid, paranoid, savage humans, who this universe is better off without. Shattering these gems is a justice higher than you can imagine."

"I ought to shatter **you** , you psycho!" as Jaiden grabs a pair of scissors and aims it toward her right hand.

"Ah, but you don't know which gem I am, do you, freak? The memories. It seems like only yesterday that you used your battle time to create us for your own power-hungry needs. Back when you cared about your own brethren."

"…Heh. Heheheheh. Ha ha ha ha. HA Ha HA Ha HA Ha HA. HA HAHA HA HAHAHHA HA HAH AHAHHA!"

"What are you doing? Stop laughing! I said **stop**!

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHHHAHAHAHAHHHAHAAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAHAHA!"

"Enough!"

"Heheh. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Maybe I _will_ keep you around. The fact that any empathy for those aristocratic fools remain is just **comical**!" she said as she slammed her hand onto the table gem-side-down.

But her smile slowly vanished as she said, "Oh gosh, look at me, dealing with you two I should have just kept my human interaction minimal like usual. A sweet kid like Steven isn't safe around someone like me. Wouldn't you agree, Garnet?"


End file.
